The Omega & The Alpha
by Vea Universe
Summary: The President has a few things she has to take care of before her omega. (can't say much because it would give it away) R & R please!


**The Omega**  
Genre: tearjerker / drama  
Author: Vea Universe  
disclaimer is at the bottom.

* * *

They had Earth's coordinates. It was that simple. They had the coordinates, and had mapped the course. The elections were three weeks ago, and since then, President Roslin had spent most of her time coaching President Elect Tom Zarek on how to be the publics' most loved. Tonight they were celebrating the fact that everything had been good for the last couple of months and that there was no way to doubt that they were on their way to Earth now. Captain Lee 'Apollo' Adama carefully studied the room, noticing everything, but paying attention to nothing. He did pay attention to the fact that the president was looking intently at him, so he headed across the room to her. 

There was sweat on her upper lip and she was paler than ever before. Her looks made him nervous, but he knew that even though he would do anything to save her life, she most likely would not make it through the night. In fact, the entire crew of the Battlestar Galactica knew that she probably wouldn't make it through the night, and most were here to show their deep love and respect for her. He stopped and stood at attention by her side. "Captain Apollo?" He smiled sadly at her nickname for him. "Could you get Mr. Zarek for me? It's time for me to step down." "Yes ma'am. Is there anything else I can do for you? A glass of water perhaps?" He tried to keep the concern he felt for her wellbeing out of his voice, but it just wouldn't cooperate.

Roslin smiled sadly at him. "No, Apollo, I don't need anything at the moment. Could you check on something for me?" Apollo nodded, his eyes very sad. "Find out if your father is here or not. If he isn't, locate him and tell him that Laura Roslin, the woman, not the president, would like for him to be here. And if he says that he's still not coming , tell him it's one of my last presidential orders and that he'd better get his ass down here now!" Apollo nodded again, snapped off a salute, and walked away. Her top aide, Billy Keikeya, approached her from behind as she started coughing. When she brought her hand down from her mouth, there was blood on it. "Damn, not now. I only need another forty five minutes, please?" Billy simply held out his handkerchief to her, and after she took it, offered her another object as well. It was the pen that they'd decided would only be used for the head count, effectively making it a symbol of the office. She took the pen as Tom Zarek walked up, and turned to face him. "Mister Zarek. I thank you for being so patient with me for holding on to my office for a little while longer. Tonight," She paused, and was suddenly speaking, not just to him, but to the entire fleet. "Tonight, I formally step down as your President, and I cede the office, title, and all that goes with it to my elected successor, Tom Zarek." Tom Zarek's jaw dropped, he had not been expecting this tonight. Roslin held out the so-called 'official pen of the President' and he took it, numb. Roslin then turned to the Priestess, Mother Eloshia. "Mother, please swear in the new President." Eloshia nodded and stepped forward as Roslin drifted backwards until she bumped into Commander William Adama.

Commander Adama took her arm and walked her off to one side of the room. "You wanted to talk to me?" he asked.

She nodded as they heard Mother Eloshia start the instructions for Tom Zarek. "Raise your right hand and repeat after me." Zarek raised his right hand.

"I, Tom Zarek,"

"I, Tom Zarek,"

"do now avow and affirm,"

"do now avow and affirm,"

"that I take the office of the President of the Twelve Colonies of Kobal,"

"that," he paused and glanced at Roslin, "I accept the office of the President of the Twelve Colonies of Kobal," Roslin's attention started to drift and she drew Adama farther away from the crowd. They could no longer hear the exchange of words between Eloshia and Zarek.

"Yes, I did want to speak with you, Commander." She reached up and took off her glasses. She took a deep breath, seeming to weigh her next words very carefully. "Commander, I feel a need to apologize for all my earlier frak ups, problems, misunderstandings, etc. I am truly sorry about being a serious pain in the ass." She leaned back into the wall, he leaned his left shoulder into the wall next to her right shoulder. "I guess I'm asking you to forgive all of my mistakes and allow us to at least be friends." As they slid along the wall into deeper shadow, he raised his eyebrow.

"I must admit to wondering why you'd be asking for my forgiveness tonight. No, this doesn't mean I won't give it, it's just that I'm curious as to why tonight?" "There are several things about me that you don't know Commander. Such as: I don't have severe allergies, instead, it's much worse, I have cancer and it's killing me." Shock showed clearly on his face, and he seemed to be at a loss for what to say.

* * *

Down in Sickbay, Doctor Connell was sitting at his desk, staring aimlessly at a monitor that was showing a heartbeat and a single flat line. It was President Roslin's heart and pain monitor. Her heart rate was strong, but he feared that that wouldn't last much longer. Sure enough, the pain line, (the flat one), showed some minor activity. It beeped, once, softly, then was quiet. The machine beeped again, louder. He sighed, opened President Roslin's medical file, and picked up a pen. Cassandra, the head nurse, poked her head into his office. "Sir? Can't we do anything?" 

"Presidential orders are to take no extreme measures to save her life. Straight from the President's mouth herself." Cassandra backed out of the office as Doctor Connell started to write, time of death, a single tear falling from his eyes.

* * *

Roslin gasped, the pain getting worse as the minutes passed. Adama put his arms around her, pulling her to his chest and he carefully kneeled. "No, Laura, not like this! You can't go like this!" Roslin reached up and touched his face. 

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you about the cancer, William, I just didn't want your sympathy. I can't stand people only seeing the illness, not the person's mind or skills." She stopped, the pain intensifying visibly. Fifteen feet away, Petty Officer Dualla turned towards them, upon seeing the Commander kneeling with President Roslin in his arms, picked up the bag at her feet, and poked Starbuck in the side. Starbuck turned and saw the President and the Commander and started to cry softly, which alerted the rest of Galactica's crew to the President's collapse.

* * *

Doctor Connell looked up at the monitor again. It was no longer possible to tell all of the machine's beeps apart. The machine was now humming and the line that monitored pain was now quite impossible to see. "Cassandra, head down to the flight deck and join the party. As soon as I give you the code, announce the date and time of the President's death. Oh, and Cassandra, give no clue as to the fact you're only there because some one is basically on their deathbed in the room." 

"Yes sir, should I take something to cover the body with?"

"No, Dualla has what will be placed over the body." Cassandra nodded, then left the office.

* * *

"No, Laura, you aren't allowed to go like this! Not before I tell you why we get along so well but can't seem to stop fighting!" 

"We get along so well but can't help but fight because of the mutual attraction that is so strong between us." They were no less than thirty feet from the entrance to the room, but they were so preoccupied with each other that they didn't notice the entrance of President Yohan Adar. One of Roslin's top aides though, did notice his entrance. Her name was Mirandara Zephranite, and as soon as she placed Adar's name with his face she dashed over to Billy to tell him that Adar was alive.

Mustering up as much strength as she could through the waves of pain that were rolling through her, Roslin reached up and touched Adama's face again. "Take care of our 'children' William, they need someone decent to offset Zarek."

"I promise I will Laura." Adama bent his face to hers and gently kissed her last breath away. As he raised his head, he whispered, "I'm so sorry you had to go like this, my love." Dualla started towards them, carefully starting to unfold a flag.

Mother Eloshia noticed Dualla's movements and followed her with her eyes. She easily continued her conversation, but when she saw Roslin lying limp in Adama's arms she was shocked into silence, and she knew immediately that something was wrong, very wrong.

Commander Adama began to whisper a prayer for Roslin's soul. "Lords of Kobal, hear my prayer. I lift her body unto you, O Lords of Kobal, in the …" His grief finally overwhelmed him, and he found he couldn't continue.

Cassandra entered the room, checking her watch. President Zarek noticed her very late entrance, and frowned. She took a deep breath then thundered, "May I have your attention, Please?" Silence fell with a sense of dread.

Cassandra straightened her shoulders, taking another deep breath, as if to steady herself. "President Laura Roslin," her eyes drifted shut and her voice brokeas tears started to fall, "time of death: the zero hundred hour on the two hundredth and fifteenth day after the attacks on the Twelve Colonies of Kobal." There was a shocked silence as everyone absorbed that information, then everyone's heads snapped around to Adama, who was still holding Roslin's limp and lifeless form. Dualla carefully covered the body with the flag that symbolized all twelve of the colonies. The silence continued, as everyone still couldn't believe that President Roslin was dead. Then President Adar let his presence be known with a single comment.

"What the hell is going on here!"

* * *

End, for now.

* * *

Disclaimer: I own only Mirandara Zephranite, out of the whole story. I own also the idea for this story, and I want to mention, that yes, I cried while I was typing it. If you've seen the show or the miniseries, then anything you recognize does not belong to me. I watched the movie very, very carefully in order to get the presidential oath of office, so I'm all happy about having it correct in the story. 

P.S. I am terribly sorry for what I've done to the beloved President Roslin. Can you believe that she's my favorite character? Oh, and by the way, this is part one of an at least two part story. I have a lot of things going on right now so don't expect to see an update for a while. Oh, and if there are any mess ups then I'm sorry but I needed to get this up fast.

Vea Universe

R & R please!


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